Justice Reform

For far too long, politicians have passed bad laws in an effort to appear "tough on crime." But these laws have come with a heavy toll. The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world and our prison system is struggling to keep up. These policies have also have torn families apart.
It's fiscally and morally imperative to advance meaningful and responsible justice reforms that will ease burdens on taxpayers and give nonviolent offenders the opportunity to become productive citizens.

Hold Congress Accountable

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It may seem surprising to consider licensing reform a criminal justice issue, but if you get to the meat of the issue then it makes sense. Unsurprisingly, barriers to employment make it harder find a job and that can result in those who can find work returning to crime.

On behalf of our activist community in Pennsylvania, I urge you to contact your state senator urge him or her to vote YES on SB 529, introduced by state Sen. Scott Wagner (R-York). The bill would enable Pennsylvanians to reintegrate into society without the life-long barriers associated with a criminal record.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a memo to his staff last month that instructs prosecutors to charge suspects with the most serious provable offenses, "those that carry the most substantial guidelines sentence, including mandatory minimum sentences”.

On behalf of our activist community in Pennsylvania, I urge you to contact your representatives and ask them to support the Senate Bill 8, introduced by Sen. Mike Folmer (R-Lebanon). This bill, which passed the state Senate in April, would transform current civil asset forfeiture procedure in Pennsylvania to better protect private property and due process.

For every hundred American adults, there is one person behind bars. For every four out of ten released, it’s only a matter of three years until they are back in the prison system. This vicious cycle has become normalized because we have kept prison an institution of punishment for every offender, regardless of crime. Someone caught with a few ounces of marijuana should not be held to the same punishment as someone who has committed murder.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to call your senators and ask them to cosponsor the Reclassification to Ensure Smarter and Equal Treatment (RESET) Act, S. 1252, sponsored by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). The bill would reclassify several low-level felonies as misdemeanors, by lowering the prison time down to no greater than one year and no more than $1,000 for nonviolent drug offenses.

Justice reform has been a big issue over the past few years. One such issue that has been getting a lot of attention is how a prior criminal record can impact an individual in the future. For that reason, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) have introduced the Renew Act, H.R. 2617. If passed, this bill would give young adults who had previously had committed a nonviolent first-offense a second chance.

On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representatives and urge them to cosponsor the Renew Act, H.R. 2617, introduced by Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.). The bill would expand the qualifying age for expungement of a simple possession conviction for nonviolent, low-level, first-time drug offenders.

Following the passage of the Juvenile Justice Reform Act, H.R. 1809, which reauthorizes and improves the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) of 1974, FreedomWorks Director of Public Policy and Legislative Affairs Jason Pye commented: